Posting a picture of my pet axolotl ‘Floyd’ in the “Show off something” thread seemed to get a bit of interest and so I thought I would start a thread about these little critters.
I currently have 2, a leucistic (pink with black eyes) and a melanoid axolotl (black). The melanoid was from an aquarium shop and unfortunately had a leg and one side of gills missing. When axolotl are young they have a cannibalistic period, although even when fully grown will go for pretty much anything that moves. Incredibly 4 weeks later the little fella has gills growing back and a new small arm complete with fingers/toes (I may call this one Beadle). I was amazed at how fast these creatures can regenerate their limbs!
I currently feed my axolotl on frozen bloodworm, although I also use daphnia, brine shrimp and the occasional live earthworm. I’ve tried beef heart and pellets, but they seem to produce a lot of mess and cloud the water despite having a pretty good filter.
I’m using a Juwel tank with internal filter, air line, silk plants, bog wood and sand for substrate. From what I understand the minimum requirement for a single axolotl is a 2ft tank, although I would definitely recommend something bigger as axolotl can move at some pace when they want to.
Here are a couple of handy links for anyone interested:
http://www.axolotl.org/
http://www.caudata.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl
These pics are of a young Floyd taken a few months back. She’s now a bit of a monster close to 20cm so I will add a few more pictures once I get the chance to take something recent.
I currently have 2, a leucistic (pink with black eyes) and a melanoid axolotl (black). The melanoid was from an aquarium shop and unfortunately had a leg and one side of gills missing. When axolotl are young they have a cannibalistic period, although even when fully grown will go for pretty much anything that moves. Incredibly 4 weeks later the little fella has gills growing back and a new small arm complete with fingers/toes (I may call this one Beadle). I was amazed at how fast these creatures can regenerate their limbs!
I currently feed my axolotl on frozen bloodworm, although I also use daphnia, brine shrimp and the occasional live earthworm. I’ve tried beef heart and pellets, but they seem to produce a lot of mess and cloud the water despite having a pretty good filter.
I’m using a Juwel tank with internal filter, air line, silk plants, bog wood and sand for substrate. From what I understand the minimum requirement for a single axolotl is a 2ft tank, although I would definitely recommend something bigger as axolotl can move at some pace when they want to.
Here are a couple of handy links for anyone interested:
http://www.axolotl.org/
http://www.caudata.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl
These pics are of a young Floyd taken a few months back. She’s now a bit of a monster close to 20cm so I will add a few more pictures once I get the chance to take something recent.
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I believe the average lifespan is 10 - 15 years!